Ulrik squinted and shook his head, reaching out and pressing it, motioning for a few people to listen to him.

"Baron Leon, with the merits you have established in Eagle Claw Castle, Eagle Claw Castle should have been your legitimate domain. Of course, that's what you deserve, and it's not a reward."

There is nothing to discuss about the fiefdom of Eagle Claw Fort, it was brought down by Leon, and no one will have an opinion.

But killing thousands of Cato people, recovering the fallen land, and forcing the Raven Kingdom to apologize and withdraw from the army is certainly unjustifiable without a reward. So everyone knew that the king had something to say, and no one said anything.

"Originally, I was supposed to make you an earl as a commendation, but you took back the town of Changhe a few days ago...... Frankly, given your seniority and age, taking charge of Talon and River at the same time is going to cause a lot of unnecessary controversy......

Ulrik said and shook his head, "So I'll let you choose, do you want a higher hereditary title, or do you want more fiefdoms?"

The king did behave frankly when he was sober.

A young lord in his twenties has established relatively large feats, and it is normal for ordinary kings to have such considerations.

If there are too many seals, what will this young man use to raise merit if he builds up more credit in the future?

But everyone in the room knew that Ulrike probably wasn't actually thinking about the problem......

"Your Majesty, can you still choose this?"

Leon smiled in a way that was typical of villain's triumphant symptoms, and glanced at Godric with slanted eyes: "So, I can be an earl?"

The greedy look was undisguised and looked annoying, but the king laughed, "Of course, you won it yourself."

"Earl? Hmph......"

Godric snorted discontentedly.

"Aha, it's not easy to be an earl......

Leon glanced at Godric with a squint and smiled triumphantly, then covered his face with bared teeth, as if his wound would hurt if he smiled.

"In that case, I think we can discuss it like this...... Godric, I heard that your daughter is already in Eagle Talon Castle, and I plan to transfer you to the post of Chief of Military Affairs of the Northern Regions and transfer from White Hart to Lord of Eagle Talon Castle. As for Leon, you will be promoted to Earl and the Chief of Military Affairs in the East, and the town of Long River will become your domain, but you will have to give up Talon Fort. Malbert, you have taken over White Hart Castle as a reward for your father's merits......

Ulrik smiled even more, "That's why I said this matter needs to be discussed. This is also to resolve your conflicts...... Leon, do you have any comments?"

Exchanging Eagle Claw Fort for the prosperous and wealthy Changhe Town, and being promoted to an earl, if outsiders judge this matter, the king is indeed very fair to Leon.

As for Godric, it seems that the town of Long River was once cheated out by traitors at his hands, so he was punished and transferred from Whitedet to Talon Castle, and it seems that there is no problem.

And Brenus led the troops to quell the rebellion is meritorious, but the duke has reached the top and can't be rewarded, so his son is considered a reward for being named to White Deer Castle.

This arrangement is indeed very fair on the surface.

But the problem is that this is not about resolving contradictions, but about intensifying them......

Such an arrangement may seem good for all three parties, but in fact it will inevitably lead to a struggle between the three parties.

Leon slanted the corners of his mouth at Godric, and the mocking look was very obvious: "Your Majesty, of course I have no opinion."

"Godric?"

King Ulrik turned to his brother-in-law.

Godric's nose twitched a few times, and there was a fierce glint in his eyes: "Huh...... No comment, that's fair...... But Your Majesty, I will accuse Count Leon of not paying his debts!"

The lord turned his head and glared angrily.

"This is your private matter, and private matters are settled privately...... Since you have no problem with my arrangement, then it is decided......

King Ulrique stopped Godric from collecting his debt in public, then nodded in satisfaction and stood up to dismiss.

"Wait...... Your Majesty, can I speak?"

Malbert shook his head weakly and stood up, originally he belonged to the simple substitution of his father to receive the reward, so the king did not ask him.

But in fact, he was a representative of the Duke of Brenus, and at the round table he was certainly entitled to an opinion......

"You say."

Ulrik seems to be quite kind now.

"Your Majesty, with my troops, I'm afraid it will be difficult to hold White Deer Fort......

Malbert's eyes kept glancing left and right, and it was obvious that he didn't feel that he couldn't hold on, but that he didn't want to get involved in the conflict between Leon and Godric.

Now that he saw the Noldor Elves appear in Leon's guards, Malbert could naturally realize that whoever dared to take over White Hart Fort would be in danger - it was normal for humans to die at the hands of the Noldor Elves anyway......

"Then you can learn from Leon and get some Noldor mercenaries or something to strengthen your army, okay, so be it!"

It seems that Ulrique obviously doesn't care whether Malbert is in danger or not, and it is estimated that he is happier when the three parties fight, so he directly terminated this "discussion".

Leon was expressionless, Godric was furious, and Malbert was grim.

A few hours later, the edict was officially announced.

Baron Leon was promoted to Earl of Changhe Town, and concurrently served as the Chief of Military Affairs of the Eastern Region.

Baron Godric became the lord of Fort Talon, and the village of Fort Talon was given to him, as well as the chief of military affairs in the northern region - the Gulf of Tonkin does not have a single powerful lord now, and it should indeed be arranged as such.

Lord Malbert was given the title of White Hart Castle.

After completing the edict, King Ulrik met Leon alone in the hall of the lord.

"Count Leon...... Whatever conflicts you have with Godric, I hope you will all restrain each other and not affect the security of the kingdom......

Ulrike kept looking at Leon's puffy face, as if he was considering whether to make peace between the two.

After all, this kind of public brawl and slap in the face is indeed easy for the nobles to turn into a life-and-death duel, and it is very likely to cause a war.

The discord between two powerful nobles is a good thing for the king, but if there is a civil war because of this, it will not be safe, and the king has not brought many people......

"It's all trivial...... It's just a small matter, but it's just a little dispute over money, Your Majesty."

Li Ang rubbed his face and shook his head sensibly.

"I'm afraid it's not just a small dispute, right? I've heard that you used to be inseparable from Godric's daughter, but now that there are so many beauties around you, I'm afraid it's hard for your two families to get along...... You'd better give Godric the dinars you should have paid, and you're not short of money......

King Ulrike sighed, hearing this, he seemed to want to control the situation, probably because he felt that the situation could not escalate before he left......

Hearing Godric say that Leon was a thief, and seeing two stunning beauties appear next to Leon, the king certainly understood that it was definitely not just a matter of money.

This is both an emotional problem and an economic dispute, coupled with the practice of mutual hegemony and occupation of territory, it is obvious that the contradiction between the two countries is already extremely intense, and maybe a war will start at any time......

The king didn't care about their feuds, but he certainly didn't want to be drawn into battle before he left.

"Your Majesty, of course I will try to restrain myself, and as you can see, I didn't fight back today! But I really can't pay him back that money...... Alas......"

Li Ang also sighed, "I was going to make up 100,000 dinars to pay you back first!" Your golden seal is not in Changhe Town......

The lord covered his face and looked up pitifully at Ulrik.

Ulrike twitched twice, and it looked like his words were gagged.

"I do have to take that money...... But in any case, exercise restraint! I'll go talk to Godric as well."

It seemed that the king cared more about the 100,000 dinars than the grudges between his lords......

I don't know how Ulrik talked to Godric, but after he finished talking, he immediately set off to return to Lion City, and took with him the 100,000 dinars that Leon had prepared in advance.

It feels like I'm running away overnight.

Lord Malbert also couldn't wait to leave Long River.

- They all seem to be worried that there will be a fight in the town of Long River.

But Leon and Godric were toasting at the headquarters of the Long River Express at this time......

"You hit too hard, didn't you say don't slap your face?"

Leon was still rubbing his nose, and the redness and swelling on his face had not gone away.

"Isn't that just the right thing to do...... Ahem, besides, it works better, doesn't it? The king also said that I had hurt your dignity and feared that you would assassinate me......

Godric looked at Leon's wound and smiled, "Are you sure Malbert is willing to abandon Fort White Hart?"

"He's an extremely smart guy, he didn't even want to enter Changhe Town in the first place, let alone White Deer Castle now...... He must have known that no one in White Deer Fort would listen to him, and stationing troops in White Deer Fort was tantamount to providing you with free labor, and he would at most symbolically come over once a quarter to collect taxes. Anyway, the tax collection is also to give him a sum of money every year, and the dividends are also given to him a sum of money every year, so he might as well exchange it directly for shares? I don't have to take any responsibility for it......

Leon raised his glass: "The east is already safe, the king will not come to trouble us for the time being, it's a big deal to overcharge taxes, maybe we can live a peaceful life for a while."

"I can retire too...... After that, I went to live in Biglen Village, watching the inland sea of Lion Lake every day, fishing, fishing, and hunting, which was really a dream day......

Godric raised his glass and touched it with Leon.

……

A few days later, the kingdom's tax collector came to Changhe and informed Leon of the amount of taxes that the territory needed to pay to the kingdom.

The lord's fief will predetermine the amount of tax to be paid to the state, which is an obligation that must be fulfilled as a lord, and the rest is the lord's own after paying the national tax, but the lord himself does not care how much tax the king has to collect.

Anyway, it's the lord's own territory, and it doesn't matter what kind of disaster you want, as long as you pay enough taxes to the state......

Changhe Town is not a pioneer territory, of course, there is no preferential policy of tax exemption for one year, and Mai Xiangling also needs to pay taxes to the kingdom from this quarter.

However, the specific amount of national tax to be paid in each lord's territory will not be publicly announced, because each lord's fief has different situations, and the Lion Kingdom will set a separate payment amount for each lord's fief.

Territories of the same population size, territories in the hinterland security area are subject to full tax; And the border needs to be prepared for war, and the war readiness can be used to deduct taxes - not tax exemption, but actually to pay taxes, but to use military defense expenditures to offset part of it on the spot.

For example, when Godric was in White Hart Castle, the annual tax payable was about 15,000 dinars, but the actual tax paid was usually only 2,000 dinars, and most of the taxes were deducted from the construction of the city defense.

On the whole, the tax amount will be adjusted every year according to the specific situation, and the proportion will not be too fixed. However, in principle, there will still be a range of levy, which will be roughly matched according to the population, and the annual national tax will be between one and two dinars per capita.

Some deductions are made in the border areas, a little reduction in the disaster areas, plus some losses, and finally the state finances are basically about one dinar per capita.

The national taxes of all countries are about the same range.

But Leon's territory extends far beyond that......

「…… The Mai Xiang Collar will be incorporated into the jurisdiction of Changhe Town, Count Leon, and the annual tax on your domain is tentatively set at 150,000 dinars...... The tax payable for the current quarter is 75,000 dinars, and the Earl of Leon is requested to complete the tax for the current quarter by January next year."

After reading a long series of clichés and nonsense, the tax collector of the kingdom announced a terrible tax to his lord.

Each season here actually refers to each harvest season, usually two seasons a year, April and October, and half of the tax amount is paid in each season.

Usually the end

The latest tax cycles are in July and January of the following year – both of which take time to sort out and transport.

In other words, from now on, Leon will have to pay 150,000 dinars to Lion City every year, and from this October.

You must know that in the entire eastern region, including Bailu Fort and Yongdun Fort, the total tax actually paid last year was only 200,000......

In fact, the tax amount of 200,000 in the eastern region is not high, and the population of the entire eastern region of 200,000 or so is an average of one dinar per person per year, which is a very normal national tax amount.

But now, the amount of tax required for Leon's direct domain is too high.

Although the jurisdiction of Changhe Town is large, it belongs to Li Ang's territory, in fact, there are only the urban area of Changhe Town and the surrounding farms, Mai Xiangling, and Fletcher Village.

The lords of the rest of the district were not loyal to Leon, and Leon could not control them......

There are only more than 8,000 residents living in Changhe Town, and there are more than 16,000 farms around Changhe Town, and the current population of Mai Xiangling is close to 3,000, and Flache is less than 1,000.

Add to that a remote Falcon Fort, which is a frontier and doesn't have to pay national taxes for a year......

In other words, the territory belonging to Leon has an actual population of less than 30,000, but it has to bear a tax of 150,000 yuan per year.

5 dinars per capita and 1 dinar per capita, a five-fold difference.

But the lord accepted it calmly - the king would set a higher tax on him, which was expected and a normal operation.

It's understandable that you're a big eater.

It's just that what Li Ang didn't expect was that he was not the only one who had borne such a heavy tax.

Not long after the tax collector left, Malbert arrived in the town of Long River.

It is true that Lord Malbert did not go to take over the White Hart Castle officially, he did go to the White Hart Castle once, and then immediately returned to the town of Long River, and found the lord to negotiate a deal.

"You're saying you want to trade White Hart Fort for my business in the northwestern part of the kingdom? Is that what you mean or is that what your father means?"

Leon looked at Malbert with some surprise.

He didn't expect Malbert to have such a keen sense of smell, and he made such a determination after only one trip to Fort White Hart.

"Of course I meant it, White Deer Fort is nominally my fief after all......

Malbert smiled and turned his head to look at the various locations in the hall of the lords.

"Don't worry, there's no one else here. Malbert, this is no small matter, are you sure you want to do it? I have to say that those casinos and casinos are not easy to manage. Also, after those stores are separated from my Maixiang International, business may not be as good."

Leon was more honest with Malbert, and he always told the truth when talking about specific business.

Moreover, it is really difficult for ordinary nobles to abandon a castle that has been built quite well, and Malbert's mind is indeed quite flexible.

"I understand this, I don't want the signboard of Maixiang International, my family has enough influence in the northwest region, I will use the family's signboard. All I want is a store that has become a habit for customers."

Malbert nodded.

"Are you sure you want to trade a territory like Fort White Hart for some shops?"

Li Ang once again glanced at the actor, starting from customer habits, acquiring existing stores and then establishing his own family brand in the region, which is already a market merger with modern business thinking.

He was now more serious with Malbert than with the King.

"I know my own pounds, Lord Leon. I can't control those Noldor elves, and it's hard to resist the attack of the Bacchus Empire...... Staying in White Deer Fort can only be frightened every day, it is better to change to something more substantial. I've seen most of the casinos that the Mai Xiang Company has in the northwestern part of the kingdom, and I know that they must be much more profitable than I did in White Deer Castle."

Malbert didn't act this time, and he said it very sincerely.

"But the King and the House of Lords will not agree to this

...... of the transaction Malbert, you should understand the King's intentions."

Leon shook his head slightly.

"Of course I do, I can even tell that you and Master Godric are acting together......

Malbert smiled, "You guys acted so well that you almost tricked me into it, and I didn't react until I arrived at White Hart Castle."

Li Ang pursed his lips and didn't speak, he could see that he was really beaten, and Malbert deserved to be a natural actor.

"Lord Leon, I'll be honest, I don't dare to ask for White Deer Castle, it's not just a matter of military strength...... Do you know how much the king set for White Hart Castle? 50,000 dinars per year! The total number of people in White Deer Fort is only 10,000, how can I collect so many taxes?"

Malbert spread out his hands and said nothing more about acting.

"White Hart Fort also charges such a high tax? That's the border!"

Li Ang was also shocked, White Deer Fort is also 5 dinars per capita?